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by SelenicSoul83



Series: 12 days of Christmas 2017 [11]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenicSoul83/pseuds/SelenicSoul83
Summary: Dan woke up to a half-empty bed and a full-cold apartment.





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Dan woke up to a half-empty bed and a full-cold apartment. After considering the pros and cons of staying under the warm covers for the rest of the day for about twenty minutes, he got up and made a beeline for the thermostat, cranking up the heat. While waiting for the place to warm up, he prepared a bowl of cereal for breakfast and snuggled up under a blanket on the sofa. He spotted the little green post-it note sitting in the middle of the table, telling him Phil was out to run some errands.

It was noon when Phil finally returned, and Dan had only gotten up from the sofa long enough to get his laptop and plunk right back down. He was answering emails when Phil walked in.

“What took you so long?”

“Why? What time is it?” Phil checked his phone. “Oh. Well, it was busy in the store, so.”

Before Dan could say anything else, Phil had disappeared again.

This was what it had been like far too often lately. If they weren’t filming or editing videos together, one would go out on errands—they started leaving post-it notes in the kitchen with any stuff they needed to get so the other knew—or they’d be working on their separate content or meeting up with a friend, and at the end of the day they barely spent any quality time together.

When had they gotten too busy for each other?

Dan found Phil again in the kitchen, finishing his coffee and putting the mug down in the dishwasher.

“Hey—”

“Just a second. I told mum I’d call her right about now.”

And off he was, Dan left staring after him. He sighed, closing the cupboard Phil had gotten his mug out of before going back to the living room. He’d just wanted to ask if Phil had time to help him film a video next weekend.

The next time they even saw each other was around four in the afternoon when they coincidentally ran into each other, again in the kitchen. Dan read the note Phil had just stuck to the fridge, letting him know they were out of milk.

“When did that happen?” he wondered aloud, but seeing Phil drink another cup of coffee was enough to answer his question.

“Oh, right,” Phil said, “My parents are coming by next weekend.”

Dan stopped filling his glass of water. “Wait, how long have you known that?”

Phil frowned, thinking. “Mum called about it… last Friday or something?”

“And how did you fail to mention this before now?”

“Sorry. I probably got distracted or something. You know me. Are you seriously mad about this right now?”

“No, it’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

“Dan…”

“I got to get back to scripting this video. We’ll talk later.”

And this time Dan left first.

It made no sense that he’d get mad at Phil over this. His parents coming over stopped being a big deal long ago, and they could show up without notice right now and it wouldn’t upset either of them. Maybe it was just the fact that, normally, Phil would’ve told Dan as soon as he got off the phone with his mum. Hell, he would’ve consulted with Dan before even making any plans.

Dan didn’t see Phil for another few hours after that, until a little before nine o’clock when he knocked on Dan’s bedroom door.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, um, I’m going to make some dinner. Should I make enough?”

“It’s Tuesday, you _know_ I’m doing my life show in five minutes.”

“You said we’d talk.”

“Yeah, well, it’s going to have to wait.”

He watched Phil hang his head, hand clutching the doorknob. “So, no dinner?” he asked, voice tight.

“No need,” Dan said. “I’ll get something later.”

He waited for Phil to close the door before he threw himself back on the bed, groaning loud.

He ended up cutting his live show short because his stomach was rumbling and the lingering smell of Phil’s dinner filling the apartment really didn’t help.

Phil was watching TV, but got up only seconds after Dan sat down with his food.

“I’m tired,” he said, rubbing his eyes for emphasis. He’d already taken out his contact lenses, telling Dan he’d been waiting up.

“Wait.”

Phil stopped in his tracks, turning around and smiling down at Dan. “Yeah?”

He didn’t know what to say. Everything felt off today, tense somehow, and Dan didn’t know how to handle that. After another moment, he shook his head.

“Never mind,” he said. “Good night.”

Phil’s tired smile didn’t falter, and he leaned down to press a kiss to the side of Dan’s head. “Good night.”

He was already deep asleep and snoring softly when Dan joined him in bed later. Dan thought about putting his arms around him and pulling him close, but decided against it to avoid waking him up. He had looked very tired earlier.

Hours later, Dan lay still awake, looking at Phil’s peaceful expression. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness a long time ago. After another ten minutes, he sneaked out from under the covers and headed for the lounge. Laying up wasn’t doing him much good, so he might as well do something with this time.

That something turned out to be scrolling through Netflix for something to watch in the middle of the night.

He’d just decided on a series to start when he heard stumbling on the stairs.

“Hey, what are you doing up?” Phil asked as he walked in, scratching his head and looking at Dan through blurry eyes.

Dan couldn’t suppress a smile. “I could ask you the same.” He scooted over on the sofa to make room for Phil, which the other fell easily into.

He dropped his head against Dan’s shoulder, putting his arms around Dan’s waist to pull him close. “I woke up and you weren’t there.”

Dan started tracing patterns on Phil’s arm absentmindedly. “I’m sorry about today,” he said, voice slightly too loud in the stillness of the night. “I may have been a bit snappy.”

Phil chuckled. “A bit?” He lifted his head enough to see Dan roll his eyes. “No, I’m sorry too. I could’ve easily made more time for you.”

Running a hand through his hair, Dan sighed. “Is this seriously what it’s come to? Communicating through post-it notes and having to be up at three AM to be able to talk?”

“It shouldn’t be like that,” Phil said, nuzzling Dan’s shoulder. “We’ll work on it.” And, after a moment to yawn, “Starting tomorrow.”

Dan kissed the top of his head. “Deal.”


End file.
